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NGC 6621/2 (VV 247, Arp 81) is a strongly interacting pair of galaxies, seen about 100 million years after their closest approach. It consists of NGC 6621 (to the left) and NGC 6622 (to the right). NGC 6621 is the larger of the two, and is a very disturbed spiral galaxy. The encounter has pulled a long tail out of NGC 6621 that has now wrapped behind its body. The collision has also triggered extensive star formation between the two galaxies. Scientists believe that Arp 81 has a richer collection of young massive star clusters than the notable Antennae galaxies (which are much closer than Arp 81). The pair is located in the constellation of Draco, approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth. Arp 81 is the 81st galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24th April 2008.

About the object

Object name

NGC 6621, NGC 6622, VV 247, Arp 81, VII Zw 778, KPG 534A

Object description

Interacting Galaxies

Position (J2000)

18 12 54.70
+68 21 49.0

Constellation

Draco

Distance

300 million light-years (100 million parsecs)

About the data

Data description

The Hubble image was created using HST data from proposal 7467: W. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and ESA. Hubble material is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that NASA and ESA is credited as the source of the material. The material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute and for ESA by the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre under Contract NAS5-26555. Copyright statement at hubblesite.org or copyright statement at spacetelescope.org.

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